February 2011
February was another busy month. These are the books, music, and poems that I managed to fit in my between moments.
Books Read This Month
02/03 My Country School Diary: An Adventure in Creative Teaching. Julia Weber Gordon. ✩✩✩✩✩
This book was recommended by John Holt and is one of the very few books this miser has purchased without first reading it. What I discovered was a fascinating account of a young schoolteacher who teaches for four years in a rural school. Her desire was to put the delight and responsibility of learning into the children’s own hands, and though it was not always easy, she succeeded in nurturing the interest and self-discipline of the children, many of whom had been failing or indifferent students. This is an inspiring but realistic story of what can be done with limited resources by a motivated teacher who loves her students. It is a collection of diary entries in which Miss Weber recorded good days and bad days, exciting school assignments and specific needs for improvement. Anyone who works with children will benefit from her insight and experience.
This is an endearing story based on a real dog, a German Shepherd mix living in Jamaica. Muley-Ears is nobody’s dog; he thinks he owns the pink rental cottage, and the families who stay there take care of him in return for Muley’s experience. Muley lives a happy life until a grumpy old man rents the cottage—the man doesn’t seem to realize that Muley is his responsibility. The happy resolution is a bit simplistic, but one that will be very satisfying to young children.
02/22 My Cousin Rachel. Daphne du Maurier. ✩✩✩
Young Philip Ashley inherits the fortune of his beloved cousin and guardian Ambrose, who had married abroad and then died under mysterious circumstances. When Ambrose’s widow Rachel suddenly arrives in England, Philip is determined to hate her, but he soon finds himself falling in love—even as he begins to suspect that she murdered his cousin and plans the same fate for him. Last year, my mother, sisters, and I had watched the movie adaptation starring Sir Richard Burton and Olivia de Havilland. Although we were certain of the verdict in the movie, the book, we felt, was even more ambiguous. Was Rachel innocent or guilty? The reader is left to decide for himself. This book is not for young readers, as it contains references to murder and adultery.
Other Books
These are the books that I revisited or did not read completely.
This is a wonderful, straightforward guide for husbands and others who plan to attend a birth, whether a hospital or home-birth, a medicated birth or an unmedicated birth. This is not about making decisions for the mother, but about supporting her own educated choices. There is one quote given from a “co-mother,” but I was relieved to find it the only reference to unbiblical “partnerships,” a topic which is increasingly given attention in natural birth books.
Other than jotting down recommended essential oils for anxiety, insomnia, etc., I didn’t take much from this book. As one might expect from the title, the author spends too many words on a false and weak spirituality. With a typically female fascination for human personality, I did enjoy looking at the personality profiles for essential oils. We didn’t take it seriously, but my mother, sisters, and I did have fun identifying each other. I was Sandalwood, Littlest Sister was Eucalyptus, Mama was Black Pepper, and a friend was Ylang Ylang. Other family members were decided too “unique” to be pegged into any of the profiles. ;-)
Additions to the Library
These are the books that were added this month to my personal library. These titles are always carefully chosen and have my highest recommendation. Read more about them at Bibliotheca.
Principles and Practice of Phytotherapy: Modern Herbal Medicine.
Kerry Bone, Simon Mills. ✩✩✩✩✩
When my siblings learned that I spent over $80 for this one textbook, they were shocked. ($82.17 was the exact price—not very rounded, is it?) This was a book highly recommended by Shonda Parker, and I am glad to say that it was worth my money. This heavy textbook is great for those who are already familiar with the basics of herbs and chemistry, and want a more scientific but still practical approach to herbal medicine. I feel that this is a must-have for practicing herbalists. The authors address various historical and modern theories and philosophies of herbal medicine; safety and efficacy of herbs; deciding what herbs and dosages are appropriate; drug-herb interactions; herbal therapies for pathological states and body systems. The last section is comprised of thorough monographs for more than forty-five common medicinal herbs.
Music
I am making an effort this year to go beyond my iPod, the music I already know and love, and to discover new favorites by listening more attentively to the local classical radio station, borrowing recordings from the library, looking for “new” music by the composers I know, and looking for pieces by composers with whom I am not yet acquainted.
There was a lively piece playing on the radio, but I didn’t really listen to it until my attention was caught by a familiar tune. We dance to that, I thought. I continued to listen. My next thought was that it sounded like something Ralph Vaughn Williams would do with an old English dance tune. Imagine my satisfaction when the host announced, “The Running Set by Ralph Vaughn Williams.” Williams was a member of the English Folk Society, collecting and preserving over 800 folk songs and tunes of Britain, and often beautifully arranging them in vocal and instrumental pieces. The dance tunes used in this orchestral piece are “Barrack Hill,” “The Blackthron Stick,” “Irish Reel,” and “Cock o’ the North.”
And although this is the place where I am suppose to share my new favorites, I can’t help reminding you how fun it is to watch the Transatlantic Sessions on YouTube. Read my previous post The Transatlantic Sessions for more information on this phenomenal group of musicians. (It came to my attention that I needed to update many of the links in that post, and I have done so.)
Poetry
Lanier Invester introduced me through her blog to a beautiful poem by Richard Wilbur: “The Writer.” Wilbur listens to his daughter typing a story in her room, and he reflects on the bloody struggle and final freedom of writing. “It is always a matter, my darling/ Of life or death, as I had forgotten...”
This was not my first Richard Wilbur. One of my favorite poems is Wilbur’s love poem to his wife: “For Charlotte.” Witnessing the tumultuous relationship of a young couple, Wilbur reflects thankfully on the beauty and artistry of a long marriage. Marriage, he says, involves not only love, but care and craftsmanship. “...a wild sostenuto of the heart/ A passion joined to courtesy and art.”
Littlest Brother and I have memorized a number of the poems in Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic (some would say old-fashioned) collection A Child’s Garden of Verse. Children love these poems because Stevenson so readily understood their thoughts and games. Stevenson uses beauty and rhythm when he writes about block cities, swings, and playing at favorite storybooks. Now Littlest Brother and I are learning “The Land of Counterpane.” A young boy sick in bed (as Stevenson himself had often been) creates a small world with his toys. Counterpane, Littlest Brother was interested to learn, is an old-fashioned word for bedspread.
Photograph:. Grandpa Ott’s Morning Glory.
Photograph and text © 2011.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011